Examples of the same scene taken with different focal lengths

[butterfly]

Hello everyone,

I've searched the web but cannot find so far, any sample images of the same scene taken with lenses of various focal lengths on a 4x5. Does anyone have any they could post or reply with a link maybe?

I've interested in seeing a photo taken with a 90mm lens then from the same spot the angle you would get with a longer, 200 ~300mm in particular.

According to the lens specs, 90mm = 105 degrees, 300mm = 66 degrees.

Thanks in anticipation folks!

Regards

Steve

[JW Dewdney]

Just crop the image accordingly. From the same position - the result will be absoulutely identical. It can't not be.

A 90mm lens does not use 105 degrees of coverage to cover 4x5 film however... much more like 80-90 degrees at MOST. Likely more like 70 something degrees, considering how much EXTRA coverage you get on a 90.

[butterfly]

Hi,

Maybe I am missing something basic here? My 90mm Rodenstock Grandagon specs say it has a 105 degree angle of coverage, and the spec for a Fuji C 300mm state 66 degrees.

The reason I asked the question is that I have the 90mm and a 120mm macro. I would like something a bit longer as sometimes the 90 takes in a bit too much of the scene. I was thinking of maybe a Fuji 240mm A or 300mm C.

Regards

Steve

[David A. Goldfarb]

The angle of coverage is independent of format--this just tells you how much the lens sees including extra room for movements.

The angle of view is dependent on format and is independent of how much the lens sees, as long as the lens at least covers the format. It's what the film sees.

So a modern 90mm lens may have a 105 degree angle of coverage, but 4x5" only uses about 70 degrees on the long dimension at any one time with a 90mm lens. If a 90mm lens has an 80 degree angle of coverage, the angle of view will still be 70 degrees on the 5" dimension. The rest is excess image circle available for camera movements.

[Jiri Vasina]

Steve,

the stated specs of angular coverage are OK, but it does not say that the WHOLE image circle is used to produce the image. Only a part of it (otherwise moves of the front/both standards would be impossible/useless as you would run out of coverage). It only say HOW LARGE a film can be that the lens would draw image on. And yours would work well with 5x7" film.

The actual metric (or inch in the case of those who care for that ;) ) coverage is related to both focal length and angle of coverage - I don't have the exact formula, but it's something with tangens function. In words, the longer the focal length, the less angle of coverage you need to draw the same image circle.

There are 90mm lens with 105degree coverage like yours, there are some with 80degree coverage (like my Angulon 90mm f/6.8), there are some with even less that don't even cover 4x5". All of them have a focal length of 90mm.

And JW Dewdney is correct. If you crop image captured with 90mm lens to one half in each direction (2x2.5"), you get the same picture, as you would get with a 180mm lens. Only smaller. But the field of view is same.

So easy, take a 4x5" picture you shot with 90mm lens, make a mask with a 2x2.5" hole and place it over the image - you'll see yourself...

[Nick_3536]

Hi,

Maybe I am missing something basic here? My 90mm Rodenstock Grandagon specs say it has a 105 degree angle of coverage, and the spec for a Fuji C 300mm state 66 degrees.

Steve


Think of it this way.

Angle of coverage is what comes out of the back of a lens.

Angle of view is what goes in the front of the lens.

Lens of similar design will have similar angles of coverage no matter the focal length. Pick a lens company and look at one of their lens "families". You'll see the same design with basically the same angle.

Lens of similar focal length will have similar angles of view. No matter the design.

Muddier :D

[Leonard Evens]

As several people have laready explained, the angle of coverage is different from the angle of view. The latter is usually measured across the diagonal of the frame. A 4 x 5 frame usually provides a usable film area of about 95 x 120 mm with a diagonal of about 153 mm. When the frame is centered on the lens axis, that will provide a (diagonal) angle of view of about 80 degrees. When the frame is not centered on the lens axis, as would be the case if you used a rise, fall, or shift, the angle of view would be slightly less than that and would depend on the shift.

The corresponding centered diagonal angle of views for 200 and 300 mm lenses are about 42 degrees and 29 degrees respectively. For relatively distant objects, to get some idea of how much you would see in the frame for the longer focal length, find the ratio of the smaller to the larger focal length and take that portion of the frame. For example, for 200 mm, you would see 90/200 or 45 percent of what you would see in the 90 mm image. For 300 mm, it would be 90/300 or 30 percent. For close-ups, the calculation is a bit more complicated.

[BradS]

Hello everyone,

I've searched the web but cannot find so far, any sample images of the same scene taken with lenses of various focal lengths on a 4x5. Does anyone have any they could post or reply with a link maybe?



I've often thought of doing this but have never taken the time. Perhaps, I'll give it a go this weekend. It is of course, a common thing to do in introductory photo books. One of the better comparisons of this type appears in...
Introduction to Photography by Robert B. Rhode, and Floyd H. McCall. As I recall, they do both comparisons - that is, different focal lengths from the same position and one focal length from different positions.

I think that Stroebel's View Camera Technique may also demonstrate the perspective of several focal lengths. More likely these will be done on 4x5.

[Jim Rice]

Aren't there a series of photos like this in Adam's The Camera? Your local library should have it.

[Ron Marshall]

Link to Canon's focal length comparison:

http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/EFLenses101/focal_length.html

To convert from 35mm to 4x5 multiply by 3.5.

[Baxter Bradford]

Rough rule of thumb for those with gridded ground glass - a 1cm square on GG is equivalent to a 30mm increase in focal length. This doesn't indicate compression from using longer lens of course.